In 1961, the 23-year-old son of prominent political figure Nelson Rockefeller disappeared. The official cause of his death was drowning. The truth, however, is harder to digest. Anthropologist René Wassing heard Rockefeller's last known words as the young man jumped from their catamaran, which had overturned in the Betsj River 10 miles from the shore of West Papua in New Guinea. Rockefeller had decided to try to swim to shore through crocodile-infested waters to seek help, with his final words to Wassing being: “I think I can make it.” For 50 years, the belief was that he didn’t make it, likely because he drowned or was eaten by crocodiles. With no body and no evidence, rumors began to fly, including that he had “gone native,” been eaten by sharks, drowned, or the worst……..had been eaten by cannibals. In 2012, author and travel writer Carl Hoffman began looking into Rockefeller’s story. According to Hoffman, how Rockefeller died is straightforward. He washed ashore, exhausted and weak from swimming for miles, where he saw familiar faces — those of the Otsjanep warriors. Instead of the rescue Rockefeller had hoped for, one of the men stabbed him in the ribs. The art-loving heir was then killed in the precise actions of ritualistic headhunting, and the warriors consumed him. "I think those men who killed Michael were feeling a loss of power. To them, at that moment, Michael had always been with other people and whites were powerful. Literally, they had guns and big boats ... they represented power and wealth the Asmat couldn't even imagine and so they didn't attack them. When Michael swam up at that moment, he had no power. He was alone, exhausted. To me, the moment they speared him was a moment of retaking their own power and self-esteem and identity.” Despite Hoffman's attempts to discuss his findings with the Rockefeller family, they have chosen not to comment and to leave Michael at rest, wherever he may be.
